Bus strike evokes tepid response

Earlier in the morning,Mitra had termed the strike a failure and given an ultimatum to bus owners. “About 5 per cent of the bus owners have participated in the bandh and they have been instigated by CPM. If they don’t take their vehicles out by 12 noon,the buses will be seized and the permits cancelled,” he said,adding that two buses of the route 24A/1 have already been seized from the eastern fringes of the city.

Tapan Banerjee,joint secretary of Joint Council of Bus Syndicates,however,claimed the government was forced to call a meeting.

“We never wanted to inconvenience the commuters. We had called a strike as we cannot run our business anymore. Since the minister said he will meet us after the pujas and talks will be held on fare,there was no point in carrying on with the strike. We respect his words and have withdrawn the strike,” he said.

He,however,added that if the minister failed to keep his word,they would be forced to take extreme steps.

Mini bus owners too seemed hopeful. “The minister has assured us that he will look into the fare structure and we withdrew from the strike,” said Abashesh Daw,general secretary of Mini Bus Operators Coordination Committee.

While Daw said they will propose for a minimum fare of Rs 10 for mini buses,Banerjee said basic fare for normal buses and under JNNURM should be Rs 7 and 10 respectively for the first 3 km.

“We will also propose a change in the slabs. At present,the slabs are 0 to 4 km,4 to 12 km and then 12 to 20 km. We will propose a 0 to 3,3 to 6,6 to 9 and 9 to 12 km model. There should be a fare hike of Rs 2 for every slab,” he said.

Since morning,very few buses were seen on the road. A few private buses that were seen plying were courtesy Bengal Bus Syndicate,which had pulled out from the strike at the last moment.

“We never said we will go for a strike. All we said was that we wanted the CM to intervene and find a solution to our problem,” said Dipak Kanti Sarkar,vice-president of Bengal Bus Syndicate.